The great France La Gale and i were DJing the after-party for a gender-bending burlesque revue at the Hackney Empire on Friday night. The brief we had been given in advance was "Europop songs you thought you'd forgotten". It seemed an appropriate time to play something by Sino-French disco icon Amanda Lear. A model in her youth, she found fame on the cover of Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure album and in the pages of Playboy magazine. This was quite an achievement given that her husky voice and unusual features had led to constant speculation that she was transexual. Naturally, this wasn't much of a barrier to success on the dancefloors of New York and Paris and her records from the 70s and 80s remain anthems to this day. Paris By Night is arguably the best of them all.

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Amanda Lear - Paris By Night